Honda Odyssey and Pilot Forum

Hello all,

I recently came into an FL350R that had been sitting for 10 years.  I changed the balancer oil, trans oil, put on a new belt, and new spark plug, drained the old fuel and put in new 20:1.  Lo and behold, it actually started up!  I've only driven it a little bit and now winter is quickly upon us, so I have a few questions for this winter project.

1. The clutch rattles like a mother; I talked to a guy who once serviced these things at a powersport dealer and he said to run it a bit and see if it can "break in" again after so much time unused.  If the problem persists, what's a good clutch to buy, assuming everything else remains stock?

2. I've yet to have my guy clean the carb and install new lines; it idles fine but seems a bit gutless.  How fast does one of these go, assuming it's stock? 

3. I mixed 20:1 for it but I read here elsewhere that some guys are using 40:1?  Is this a good idea?  If I could just use VP's premixed 40:1 fuel that makes my life a lot easier, but I'm not against mixing my own.

4. It seems to be loud?  Is this typical?  It still has the factory exhaust but to my ear it seems like I'm bothering the neighbors with my test runs...

5. It has a set of nerf bars installed on it; most pics I see of FL350R's don't have them, but they look like maybe they were a factory accessory? 

6. It was missing a front bumper so I found a replacement online, and all the hardware.  I went to test-fit it, and the bumper is easily 1/4" too wide for my mounting points.  Is something bent on my chassis?  How should I go about fixing this?

Thanks in advance, I've had a bit of fun working on it so far.  It still needs the brakes gone through as the fronts don't seem to work at all, but it's all there and I think I got a fair deal for the price I paid.

- Matt